Fall after the Rise
by Cattarang
Summary: The First Order is defeated, and Palpatine destroyed, but the legacy of the Sith lives on in gruesome memory and nightmare in Rey. Accompanied by Ben Solo, a man she once fought and is now the only one she can confide in, she must face the only adversary she has ever truly struggled against; herself. Kylo/Ben x Rey, alt ending and sequel to Rise of Skywalker.
1. Chapter 1

Rey, like many, had always imagined death to be somewhat peaceful. Perhaps not the process of dying, which in some cases was violent, or painful, but for the finality of death itself to bring with it a sense of rest. That was what folks had always told her, there was no sense in fearing death, it would be as easy as sleeping.

That was, unfortunately, not the case.

Rey wasn't even sure if she was still feeling, or thinking. The emptiness was just that, a complete void, there was no body for her to feel with, no senses to make sense of anything, and no mind or words to think in. But despite the emptiness, the void around her writhed, was absolutely tumultuous. Any rest she searched for could not be found, try as she might. Perhaps this was not truly death then? What else could it be? There was no life left in her. What could be left when life was gone?

The answer was easy to come to her. What swirled around her and refused to let her rest was obvious. Here, in whatever plane she was inhabiting as she lay suspended between arduous life and glorious rest, was what she could only assume was The Force. It made sense, it was certainly keeping her from being at peace, as it had always been. Though, oddly enough, while it kept her from fully slipping away...it was not unpleasant. Yes, the chaos was unsettling as it buffeted around her like a ripping current, but in the same way a child might feel unsettled as they wait for a surprise gift to be revealed, or the way lovers might feel when looking forward to the return of a partner. It almost felt...anticipatory.

What could she be waiting for? Was the force awaiting her decision to let go? She hadn't had much choice. Her life force had been drained, even if she had wanted to, her body could not sustain itself in the absence of any life. As far as Rey was concerned, she had already allowed herself to slip away. Her work was over. Palpatine and the First Order were no more, completely vanquished, and what was more, the line of Sith that had culminated in Rey's birth would die with her as well.

In this, Rey took great relief. No longer would the forces of the Sith plague the universe. No longer would the pull of the dark side plague her own mind. The fear that had tainted her thoughts and actions, pushed her hand and caused her recklessness could finally cease. If this was the peace the Force was waiting for her to come to, then here it was. Death would come as a relief, as a dead Jedi could never turn.

...And yet, here she remained. Unmoving. Unchanging. At the whims of the Force, assailing her on all sides with its tempestuous pull around her. Why did it wait? What was it waiting for?

It was waiting, unbeknownst to Rey, for Ben. The same Force that kept the woman in limbo, at the precipice of death but not quite crossing it, was compelling her companion to push on. The same force that mildly irritated one was pushing the other to the ends of his capabilities to continue forward, one fistful of crumbling, decaying rock after another as he clawed his way to the surface level. His body was absolutely at the point of breaking. His own life force was weary, and craved the same rest that eluded Rey, in a much more immediate and visceral way. But he too could not rest, not yet. He was pushed on, one limp, one fall, one more rise to his feet, until he collapsed beside her.

Ben's hands shook as he reached for her. Rey was small in his arms, as she had always been. Her stature was even smaller now, crumpled and torn and absolutely still. She dangled limp in his grasp as he took her up, a hand supporting her head, and if he'd had any voice left at all, a strangled sound of revulsion would have left his throat as his body physically flinched. Her eyes were open and unseeing as her face turned upwards when he lifted her. He'd seen this dulled gaze many times in his life.

Ben didn't know what he was supposed to do. He had felt...something, when Rey had healed him. He'd felt invigorated, certainly but...different. He'd felt whole, for the first time in a long time.

He'd never studied this particular technique before. He'd never seen it done before. For all he knew, Rey had come up with it herself, as he'd never even read of it before. All he knew, was that he desperately needed to reciprocate. This is what the Force had pushed him here for. This is why the Force had allowed them to come together, to force the bond that they had shared. This was the culmination for everything that had ever been set in motion about the two of them; for Ben Solo to hold Rey, granddaughter of Emperor Palpatine, and return the gift of life.

...And that was it. It struck Ben like lightening (and seeing as he'd only just been struck with actual lightening, he felt as if he were an expert on what the sensation was like) A return. Rey had not healed him. She had gifted him a piece of her own life force. And now all Ben had to do was return it to her. With this revelation, it became easy for him to clear his mind of erroneous thoughts. The firefight above them did not matter, the rubble around them or the pain in his physical body didn't matter. Digging deep, he reduced his consciousness down to the very essence of his life force. And at this base level, it was easy to parce his own, from that he had borrowed from Rey.

Her life force, once seized by his meditation, felt much different than his own, and he was surprised he hadn't realized it before now. If he were to keep it, he didn't think he could ever consciously ignore the feeling. Her life force was inalienable. It felt almost dirty for him to have subsisted on it for so long. How could his tainted hands, tainted ambitions and intentions, ever have held such a force captive? Separating hers from his felt like both a relief, and a gruesome loss. As he held the woman, his savior, in his arms, pressing his open palm against her abdomen and closing his eyes, it pained him to return her gift. How was he going to live without this piece of her now? How could an orphan be expected to subsist off the streets once more, after a taste of luxury?

As her life force left him and returned to her, he worried that, perhaps, it wouldn't be enough? Could this meager piece of her soul bring her back from death? And if it couldn't...what would he do? If she slipped away as well, it would only be him. Just Ben. His mother and father were gone. His family, all gone. The Jedi, eliminated. Would he really be the last conduit for the Force in the Universe? His ruined life couldn't be the legacy of the Jedi Order, he lamented, his concentration wavering at that sobering thought. What a disgrace that would be. He couldn't allow it. If Rey didn't survive, he wouldn't either. What would be the point?

A ragged breath left him as he grew weaker, weary with the effort to transfer more of his own life to her in a desperate attempt to bolster her strength. He didn't know if it would help, but he had to try. His face crumpled as he desperately held onto his concentration, his head bowing and his shoulders stooping. In that moment, he was much less a fallen Jedi, and much more a man at the end of a very well worn rope. He was not Supreme Leader Kylo Ren, he was merely Ben, who held this woman whose bond with him was so immeasurably deep that to call it that of lovers would be insulting. And he desperately wanted her to live.

Perhaps it was just a small matter of time for her body to reanimate, or perhaps it was this desperation that was the clinch, but as he sat stooped, he felt a hand lift to his, shaking, but very much alive. His eyes flew open, a clear look of shock at even his own efforts scrawled across his face as Rey weakly lifted her head, the light behind her eyes back once more.

" Rey," he said quietly, a barely audible rasp in the vast cavern they were sprawled in. His heart rate jumped in relief that it had worked, and as a smile broke out across his features, against his better judgement, Rey's lips parted. She wanted to say more. She wanted to say so much. But all that she could get out was a single word, almost a sigh.

"Ben!"

The kiss Rey planted on Ben was both a surprise, and not at all surprising. Returning it wholeheartedly, his hands cradled the sides of her face, as if if he didn't, she might slip away. Words were unnecessary, he thought. The two of them had certainly exchanged enough over their time together. Words and looks could only take you so far. Even with their connection, and their insights into the others' minds, the physical space separating them had always felt like an enormous burden on Ben's shoulders. Even when the distance between them was closed, even just briefly in their visions, it was always hollow. A touch here or there, but it was never truly contact. Not like this.

Breaking away felt torturous to Ben, but he realized they did need to breath. Rey let out a breathless laugh, her eyes refusing to stray from Bens' face.

"Thank you," she said quietly, a meager amount of strength returning to her body, enough to attempt to stand. Rising, she held her hands out to Ben. He looked up her, still shaken on her feet, her hand outstretched. This time, as he reached for her with ungloved hands, they finally clasped hands. The contact was long overdue.

"I was just returning what you loaned me," Ben replied, attempting to stand on his own, but stumbling, her left leg completely giving out. He had been sustained on purely compulsion from the Force and adrenaline before, but as he came down from that high, his body was no longer able to force him onward without braced for impact with the ground, but he never fell; instead, Rey was there, taking him up with his arm around her shoulders, standing as strongly as she could against his weight to keep him up.

"Careful," she said, taking a step and helping him move forward and keep weight off of his leg. "You're hurt."

"I've had worse." He bore a crooked smile, trying for facetiousness, but Rey was clearly not amused. Her face crumpled, though she fell silent. Ben knew what she was thinking, without having to probe her thoughts. "It's okay, Rey. You're the one who died."

"Let's get you to Luke's ship. We'll have you fixed up."


	2. Chapter 2

Having someone care for you was an exquisitely singular feeling, that Ben Solo had not truly felt for some time. The Knights of Ren, his own sacred creations had not cared for him, only his orders, and when his orders had changed, they had not. He hadn't felt a shred of guilt taking them out. The First Order was led by traitorous rats, and even with perfect obedience, it was only that: obedience. His Officers and Generals had been wholly incapable of caring, for anyone but themselves. He did not lament their loss either. His mentor Snoke had only cared for what he had thought Ben might one day become, the perfect underling to bolster Stokes claim on the Universe.

No, the last shred of caring Ben had felt before now had been from his Mother. He had always felt her presence through the Force, but the last time she had held him in her arms had been ages ago, as he was preparing to depart to train under Luke's tutelage. His Father had glowed with pride, and the kind eyes of his Mother watching a young Ben leave under her brothers' wing. And...that was his last recollection. His Uncle had always taken a shine to him in their training, but Ben could scarcely recall any caring from him, not after what had happened. How he had escaped. Perhaps his memory was unfairly tainted now, perhaps Luke had held a fatherly affection for a young Ben Solo at one point. But Ben could not fathom how a Master who operates under the sacred vows of the Jedi Order could feel any sort of positive emotions for a child, and in the same breath, prepare to murder him.

Caring was foreign to the man. Fostered and grown in the sterile corridors of the First Order, under the oppressive gaze of Snoke who had stamped any warmth from the boy growing up. And now as a man, it no longer felt as if a wick inside had been snuffed out, cold and ready to be relit. The hearth that once contained that warmth had been removed entirely. Even if he wanted to rekindle the feeling, it was difficult to justify where that fire should be relit. It was a maddening feeling, especially since Ben felt from Rey an absolutely overspilling hearth, one that warmed him from proximity alone.

How was she capable of such forgiveness? How could someone as broken, and empty, feel so deeply? Especially for him? Perhaps she wasn't as broken and empty as Ben thought. Perhaps her hearth had never been destroyed, only dormant.

Rey was oblivious to these musings as the pair limped along. She didn't have the luxury of a wandering mind as the pair made their way solemnly through the throng of gathered rebels. Celebrations and reunions had been triumphantly celebrated once the returning fighters had landed on base, spilling from their cockpits and embracing one another, colleagues, friends, lovers, families. Even as Rey had landed Luke's Xwing, she could see the upstretched, welcoming hands of her companions, welcoming her descent, congratulating their victory as they awaited her emergence. But Rey had also been acutely aware of the silence that had slowly crept through the crowd as the two Force users had emerged, leaning so heavily against one another that they may as well be regarded as one.

Not everyone on base had known Ben's face. And without his helmet, he was not immediately recognizable. But it was almost worse for Rey to see the excited expressions of her rebel allies as they approached her fade into silent disbelief as they slowly recognized who it was she was supporting. If they didn't recognize him, they could guess who he might be. And among those that did know his face, looks ranging from shock to disgust assaulted Rey on all sides.

As she had always done, she weathered these looks. Rey was used to being an outlier. One of the only humans on Jakku, one of the last Jedi left in the Universe. A girl standing alone against an insurmountable evil. A few dirty looks among friends was something she could weather. Glancing to her companion, she noticed Ben's gaze fixated on the ground, though whether it was to avoid eye contact with a crowd or to concentrate on his uneven footsteps, she couldn't tell.

The first to approach the pair was, surprisingly, Poe. His face was carefully neutral as he stopped before them, refusing to look at Ben, only Rey. He hoped to convey his exact feelings with such a look; he couldn't care less for the health and wellness of the treacherous Kylo Ren, only his friend. Rey didn't have to say much, she knew Poe wouldn't argue with her.

"We're hurt," she said simply, two words that, amidst the unsettled silence around her, felt louder than she'd spoken them. Poe nodded curtly, turning then to the crowd.

"What are you waiting for?" He asked, and when his words were not immediately met with action, his brow furrowed. "Bring a med kit!" At this, there was a small flurry of movement, as several others parted the crowd for an approaching kit to be presented. One of the rebel makeshift medics with their droid had put on a brave face to attend to the two, but as she had reached for Rey, the woman shook her head.

"Not me, Ben first," she said gently, and was somewhat relieved as Ben's weight was taken from her shoulder. The medic, to her credit, was dutiful as she assumed Ben's weight, taking him to the command tent slowly. The crowd once again parted slowly for the two of them, as if the onlookers were afraid to even touch them. Ben did not look back at Rey as they briefly departed.

"Rey." Turning, her weary eyes landed on Finn. He had taken several steps from the crowd, a confused, but relieved expression adorning his features. There was a long beat where Rey did not react; there was an uncertainty in the air among the three friends. She felt burdened by the heavy tension, but thankfully, she was not the one who assumed the responsibility of breaking it. Poe, again surprising her, smiled. Slowly, but then broke into a laugh. He moved forward at almost the same time Finn did, and Rey was nearly knocked off her feet as the two embraced her, completely capturing her in their arms. Around them, what seemed like sighs of relief resounded as the crowd once again rejoiced. Slower, and quieter, but certainly a rejoice.

"We did it," Poe said, his voice smushed in the tight quarters between them, Finn laughing against Rey's temple as their cheeks pressed affectionately together. Rey once again felt weighed down by the weight of her companions, but it was a welcome weight. Her embrace was not tainted with the magnanimous longing or burst and release of tension her embrace with Ben had been. Her friends had never burdened her with such heavy emotions. This embrace was unfettered by any expectation, and all Rey wanted was to linger in this feeling of safety and love for as long as she was able.

"YOU did it," Rey corrected, her voice still hoarse. "You brought down the fleet!"

"Only after you led us to it," Finn replied, pulling away, gazing at both friends.

"I had a little help," she admitted, nodding towards the iconic xwing that sat docked behind them. The implication was clear, the retro design of the Starcraft was unmistakable, even if its signature had not been so easily recognizable to rebel radar.

"Rey, I was afraid we had lost you," Finn said, as a separate medic approached them, assessing their wounds, leaving the superficial and administering as much as she could, which was for now merely antiseptic and bandages. "When you left the wreckage of the Deathstar, I- ...I thought-"

"I thought I had lost myself," she said softly, eyes flickering from Finn's face to nothing in particular, merely remembering. For a long moment, she ruminated on the emotions she had been experiencing as she had attempted to sequester herself on Luke's island. The desperation. Fear. And underneath these feelings, the terrifying feeling of longing. The same feeling someone might experience as they stand on the ledge of a cliff, the horrifying urge to jump. Perhaps you don't want to die, and perhaps the thought of jumping rationally is terrifying to you. But in that moment, the urge to let all the fear and anticipation go is almost too strong to overcome. In that moment, you feel as if it might be easier to just fall...

"...But I found myself again," she finished, a simple finality to her tone. She had no more to say on it, because...she could not say more. If she did, she might betray her true thoughts. And perhaps, she hoped anyway, if she spoke it aloud, it would cement it as truth. She had struggled. And she had won. And that was the end of it.

"Whatever you found, we did it. Together," Poe said, clapping them both on the shoulder firmly, smiling brightly.

"Together," Finn affirmed, mimicking Poe, and they both turned to face Rey. But Rey was not looking at them in that moment. She had glanced to Ben, who was being bandaged as best as was possible.

"Together," she echoed, but her eyes did not tear from Ben. And Ben likewise did not look away from her.

The medic attending him was quiet as she assessed his leg. She muttered softly to her droid every now and then, who logged her notes and presented her with supplies when requested. Ben heard her remark about a break, a complicated one above his knee. He could not bring himself to care. In that moment, he felt somewhat numb. A stranger was gingerly annotating his body for repairs, and he couldn't care less. His gaze couldn't leave Rey.

Why had she brought him here? Surely she was not that naive? If Ben had been in her place, he was sure that he never would have taken someone like him to a rebel base, not merely because he was still not sure if he would be tried and killed here. But because, if he had been in Rey's place, how could he ever trust someone like him again?

It would be easy for Ben to assume she was merely too good and kind to envision a scenario where he may betray her now. She had been too pure for him to taint thus far, perhaps someone as pure as she couldn't fathom what a villain like Ben was capable of. But that wasn't truly what Ben suspected. That wasn't truly what Ben knew. He HAD tainted her. Ben, or Kylo Ren, if you could even separate the two, had changed Rey intrinsically. His words had tempted her. His promises had made her hopeful, his turn from the dark side had reanimated her. And his existence itself had altered the way in which she interacted with the Force.

The two of them were linked. Perhaps they had always been, even before either had been born. They were two parts of the same Force diad, and without even trying, they had altered one another. The Force would never let them truly part from one another now.

And that thought began to ignite something in Ben.

He felt it as he watched Rey embrace her rebel friends. One, a defected Stormtrooper, one a rebel Ben had personally tortured and interrogated. Two ragtag men who shared a bond with Rey that Ben could only observe from the outside. Perhaps it was not as intrinsic as the bond he himself shared with her, but perhaps bonds forged from difficulty and effort were more valuable; Ben wouldn't know, he didn't have any of those. Rey certainly languished in their affection as they freely exchanged it among one another.

Ben quashed thoughts he would rather not be having as he forcibly turned his head, granting Rey privacy among her friends for the moment, free from his lingering gaze. It was a familiar feeling, rising up from the pit of his stomach that he had to force into submission. The same feeling he had experienced every second under Snoke. The same feeling he had experienced at every opportunity under Hux. The same feeling he felt when he connected with Rey, realizing she was under the tutelage of his old Master, Luke. It was rage with a conviction, with fear. Jealousy.

Possession was a familiar feeling, Moreso than care or affection were. Possession had been his driving emotion for so long. And now that he had been freed by Rey, and his family, from the obligation to operate under the false assumption that he could not be redeemed, he wished dearly to be free from his compulsion to possess. But it wasn't that easy. As Rey was held by her companions, the angry heat of his possessiveness rose in his heart, a physical itch he felt forced to scratch.

But thankfully, his red hot emotions were quelled as he turned back to Rey. Across the crowd, she too spent her gaze on him. He was satisfied with this. For now.


	3. Chapter 3

"How are you feeling?"

Rey remained on the opposite side of the makeshift medic tent as she looked over Ben. He was supposed to be remaining still, laying down as per the medical droids' orders, but he was sat up, inspecting the makeshift splint that had been fashioned to keep his leg immobile. After what had felt like a millennium of having bones reset by the merciless droid unit, he was finally deemed stable enough to leave on his own as the medics made their way through the rest of the survivors. The leg in question was stretched out along the cot, his good leg bent off the side.

Looking up, Ben tried for a smile, as exhausted as he was. Rey was no doubt in a similar state, he thought, but she hid it well. Not so well as for Ben to miss the slope of her shoulders as she remained at the door.

"I've been worse," he replied, repeating his earlier sentiment. Rey didn't smile at this, but shifted slightly in her stance, her weight moving from one leg to the other. "...Why did you bring me here?"

"What do you mean?" Her eyebrows knitted together, her attention drawn by his question. "You were hurt, this is where I knew I could have you fixed up-"

"This is a rebel base. ...previous rebel base. Why did you bring me here?" Rey was confused; was he upset she had saved him from Exegal?

"Should I have left you there?" She said, her tone rising slightly, an accusatory lilt to her words. Ben shifted where he sat, but made no move to rise; he couldn't, after all.

"We shouldn't have come here at all." There was no anger to his voice, no malice, but nonetheless, Rey's hackles rose.

"These are my people, Ben. My friends. Where else would I go?"

"These aren't your people." He looked up at her, still half a room away, infuriatingly out of reach. He wished he could stand. "You and I have always been the same. We have no people."

"That's not true." There was a staunch finality to her voice as she surprised the urge to cross the room to him. "You've always had family, even when you chose to leave them, they never left you."

"And they're all dead now." Rey held in a bark of reply; his father by his own hand, and his mother only just having died, she wondered how his voice remained so even. Did he not feel for his own loses? How could she, objectively an outsider to Leia's family, feel the loss of the matriarch of the resistance that much more keenly than her own son? "Just like yours."

"You have me." The words sprung out of her mouth before she could stop herself, but she didn't regret saying them. The only thing to regret was how they hung in the air between them for so long. Ben wouldn't reply for a long time, and before he did, he lifted his ungloved hand to her, upturned.

"Come here," he said quietly. It was almost a pleading tone, and Rey's lips pressed together in a long, thin line as she hesitated. Just outside the tent, she could hear the hustle and bustle of celebrations hastily being thrown together, medics attending to injuries, droids being repaired. Here, among the epicenter of what was once a rebel resistance against the very man who beckoned her, it felt...wrong, to heed his request. But he did not waiver. His gaze bored holes through her palid countenance as neither would back down. And Rey, for all her unease, was the first to cave.

Taking a few slow steps towards him, her hand lifted from her side shakily, and she rested it against his palm. His fingers slowly curled around hers, and gently pulling her a few steps closer to him, he took her hand, and pressed in against the side of his throat. Rey tried to flinch away, but he held fast, resting her bare skin against the pulse in his neck.

"Do you feel it?" He asked, letting go of her hand as it remained against his throat, and slowly reached up. His hand against her own neck was larger than hers could be, and the way he cupped the back of her neck before his thumb slid easily over the spot where her pulse could be felt made her want to yank herself away, but she refrained. As she quelled the momentary thrill of fear she'd had, her heart rate evened, her breathing steadied, and she could feel what Ben had indicated; their pulses beat at the exact same rate.

"Anyone can sinc their breathing and heart rate," Rey breathed, her voice quiet in their close quarters.

"This is more than a heart rate," Ben countered, releasing her. She straightened somewhat indignantly, though didn't step away just yet. "You've always known it, as have I. We have always been linked."

"...Yes." There was no denying the truth, it would have been foolish to try and make Ben believe she couldn't see it. There had always been something connecting them through the Force, and now it was plainer than ever to see. Their power together was enough to literally raise the dead. Perhaps there had never been another pair like them before.

"I'm never stronger than when I've been fighting against you. You've never felt more alive than at my hands. Isn't that right?"

"Don't speak for me," Rey said defiantly, though there was little conviction behind her voice.

"Imagine what we could accomplish in tandem. Together." The corner of Rey's mouth twitched as Ben spoke, and she suddenly turned away. This was familiar. Too many times had Kylo Ren attempted to sway her to the dark side with this same line of thought, these same words. Rey was momentarily infuriated; hadn't he changed? Hadn't he decided against his foolish loyalty to the Sith? Hadn't he already won her forgiveness? Why now was he dredging up these words, stirring up these feelings in her? What more did Kylo Ren want with Ben and with her?

Ben could see he'd upset her. Her shoulders were tense as she stood turned from him, and without hesitation, he reached for her hand once more. Grabbing her wrist, she attempted to jerk out of his grasp, enraged that he would grab her, but he would not let go.

"Listen to me, Rey," he said quietly. Ben had always had a way about his voice that was oddly tranquil, even in his fits of anger. It was always soft, almost always measured. "I don't care what side we fight for. I don't think we even need a side. But we need to be together. Even when you hated me, when I was hunting you, I knew it, and you knew it as well. You could feel it, the Force trying to bring us together."

"I never hated you!" She barked, finally successfully yanking her arm away, and taking a few steps back. Ben was surprised. "Not even for a second. I hated what you were trying to become, but I never hated you!"

"Your saber went through my stomach-"

"We were fighting in the middle of a raging ocean after you'd marooned me with no map to Exegal!" She threw her hands up, but immediately tried to quell her anger. She knew displays like this were...unbecoming, of someone who had only just recently cemented her allegiance to the light side...she hoped.

"I'm not blaming you. If I had been you, I would have gone for the head." His tone brought her right back down, and she let out a sigh, unamused by his morbid attempt at humor. "Alright, you never hated me then. I can accept that." Ben was tired, oh so tired, from his injuries and from talking with this hardheaded woman. She glanced back as he slowly lowered himself down, his head hitting the thin pillow like a rock. She could see it too, he needed sleep.

"Just...just rest now," she told him, and he nodded slightly, his eyes already closed, his breathing already slowing. She waited for a long moment, wondering if he had truly fallen asleep so quickly. They had had an enormously exhausting few days, so she wouldn't put it past him. Slowly reapproaching him, she reached down, touching his forehead, and then brushing his hair away from his face. "...perhaps you are right, then," she said quietly, before turning on her heel, and exiting the tent.


	4. Chapter 4

A full night of rest, and Rey still felt exhausted. As she made her way with Rose, summoned by Finn and Poe to the council tent, she couldn't bring herself to feel anxious about the reason behind the summons. Rose had not looked that pleased as she led Rey, and Rey had a feeling she already knew what was about to be discussed, but even still, she felt rather numb inside. All of her emotional energy had been expended the day before, and now, she felt as if she were running on autopilot.

Her eyes were bleary and unfocused as she was greeted, more somberly than she had been the day before, by her companions. Around her stood those closest and the most integral to the Resistances' victory, muttering to one another about topics Rey had little interest in. Once she had arrived, the meat of the meeting could finally be addressed.

"We know you're still recovering," Poe began, a little more formal than he was used to being, especially with Rey, but she just waved away his statement, shaking her head

"Not any more than anyone else here," she said, not unkindly. "Let's get on with it though. I can't imagine there is much military business that needs be discussed with me anymore, so we all know why I'm here." She didn't sound plussed by this, it was more a resignation than anything else. Perhaps if she were not so emotionally and physically exhausted, she might feel a particular way about these proceedings, and there was still the potential for her to grow that concern as she continued her resting, but for the time being, her general apathy towards the inevitable was...alienating to her friends, to say the least.

"You're the last Jedi left alive," Finn said, a hand placed gently in Rey's shoulder. "I don't think there's anything we could say that doesn't directly need your input."

"All the same," she said, donning a weary smile. Those gathered exchanged hesitant glances.

"Right, well," Poe continued, clapping his hands together and resolving to rip the topic off like an unpleasant bandaid. "The tr- ...the issue of Kylo Ren. That's why we've assembled." Rey didn't immediately make eye contact with the new General, instead electing to affix her gaze to a loose rope flapping from the rafters of the tent structure they occupied. When she did bring her gaze back down to Earth, she was acutely aware, but could not bring herself to care much about the fact that while almost everyone in the tent around her wore some sort of suppressed expression of disgust about this topic, none would look directly back at the Jedi as Poe spoke. Rey was perfectly fine with this.

"Yes," was all she replied, taking a seat on a nearby bench, resting her hands on her knees.

"...Well, he's here." Was what Poe came up with in reply, glancing to Finn for help, but his companion didn't offer him more than a shrug.

"He is," Rey countered.

"...Why?" It was a question many had been asking themselves since his arrival on base, but had dared not ask Rey. The minor looks of relief on several faces were a dead give away for how sought after the answer to this question was. Even Ben himself had asked her this.

"He was hurt. I saved him from Palpatine. He- ...saved me as well." She found it hard to describe what had happened, especially to a crowd. She found it hard to process in the first place, and articulation had never been Rey's strong suit. Finns eyebrows knit tightly together in confusion, but Poe remained stony of expression.

"You saved Supreme Leader Kylo Ren from Emperor Palpatine, a man...on Kylo Ren's side, supplying him with a massive armada?" Poe asked, though he hadn't meant it to sound so accusatory. It was more of a confirmation, really, although to say he wasn't confused would have been a lie.

"It's hard to explain," Rey began, but was suddenly interrupted.

"Try," Rose interjected, her expression was carefully crafted to try and conceal her contempt for this subject, though Rose was not known for her especially adept sense of emotional concealment. "People died at his hands, good people, innocent civilians. As far as the Resistance is concerned, he should be tried and executed for his crimes against the Galaxy."

"Rose," Finn said quietly, lifting a hand to try and subdue her barely masked rage, but she violently shrugged his attempts away.

"You saved us, Rey," she continued, "you were our last hope, and you came through for us. So I want to believe you brought that...scum! Here for any reason even remotely reasonable, but it's really hard to imagine anything he could have done to warrant any mercy at all!" Rey was a little shocked at Rose's outburst, though she didn't know her that well, she could tell there was more to her swirling emotional turmoil than an average resistance fighters allegiance to the rebel cause. Rey wondered what loss this woman had personally suffered to provoke this response.

"Kylo Ren is dead," she answered carefully, and didn't insult Rose by avoiding her fiery gaze. "The man I brought is Ben Solo, General Organa's son. Kylo Ren tried desperately to kill him, but in the end, I saved him-"

"Don't act like they're separate people!" Rey stood as Rose interrupted her again; her autonomic nervous system was kicking into overdrive with a spike of adrenaline, and she needed to stand, to be able to...well, her body wanted to fight or flight, though she knew neither response was especially appropriate at that moment. "Don't insult the people who died to help us get here by acting like the man who ended their lives isn't in our base right this minute! I don't care what name you call him! The wretched body you dragged into camp is the reason our celebrations feel bittersweet!"

"Rose, that's enough-" Poe said, a vein of authority returning to his voice, but Rose was long past her capacity to listen to commands.

"Ben chose the light," Rey asserted, her voice watery, though it had more to do with her exhaustion than with overwhelm.

"He chose too late!"

"It is never too late!" Both women would not back down, and Poe had to physically step between them, or he feared the shorter of the two might swing on an honest to god Jedi. Finn grabbed Rose by the shoulders, and even as she tried to thrash him away, he held fast. "I saw inside his heart! He struggled, but his triumph over darkness is most complete when one struggles to achieve it!"

"And does that wash his hands clean, then?" Rose spat, "why don't you rouse his mother and tell her that he is absolved of his fathers murder then!"

It was at that, that the tent erupted in a cacophony of outraged arguing. Rey couldn't even make sense of the din, or whom was on whose side as those gathered seemed to take offense to both the notion that Ben Solo had been redeemed, and with Rose's callous mention of the late General. Poe tried desperately for a long minute to try and calm the calamity, but after his voice failed to rise above the racket, he shouted for his droid, and BB8 dutifully responded in the most shrill, high pitched and ear splitting whistle the unit could produce. Immediately, those assembled all fell almost together to cover their ears from the terrible sound.

"This is not a Dorriven fighting pit!" Poe yelled, angered by the loss of control. "You!" He pointed to Rose, who showed not a single iota of remorse for her words. "Speak of the General like that again and I'll have you sectioned! Finn, take her to cool off." Finn nodded, and to Rose's absolute chagrin and rage, he was able to pick her up off her feet by the grip he had on her shoulders. Her loud and fitful protests could be heard as she was escorted out. "And you." Turning back to Rey, he had a somewhat more sympathetic look to his expression. "You've got me in a bind, kid. You bring the fallen Supreme Leader of the First Order to my base? What else am I supposed to do?"

"See sense," Rey replied, surprised that this was the direction this discussion had taken. "You know no one hated Kylo Ren more than I did. Why would I have brought him here, if I did not believe with all my heart that he had turned from the Dark Side?"

"Rey, it's not-"

"I have seen it, Poe. I felt it." Poe cast her with a tortured expression, especially considering the look of such earnest she put upon him. He knew she fully believed what she was saying. And Poe trusted her. But she was not who he needed to answer to.

"I trust you, Rey," he said slowly, shaking his head. "But Rose is right. Light side or not, he committed heinous acts." His voice evened out slightly, as his gaze flitted away from her face. "...Ben Solo will stand trial for the crimes committed as Kylo Ren."

"Then he will be killed," Rey said quietly, her jaw tight. Poe didn't turn back to her, but strode for the tent opening.

"Dismissed," he muttered to those gathered. No one moved as he exited the tent, until Rey moved to follow him. But Poe was determined to not be caught, and was out of sight as she exited the tent after him.

Ben sat up immediately. He could sense her before he heard her. Her footsteps were soft outside the medical tent, and she set something on the ground before entering. She seemed startled when she looked in to see him sitting up, fully awake and alert, waiting for her.

"I- ...good. You're awake," she whispered, a bit surprised.

"You know I can't ignore you," he replied, his eyes the only reflective surface in the dark, shining with the tiny streak of moons light let in from the tent opening. Approaching him, she didn't hesitate as she dropped to a crouch beside his cot, hands hovering cautiously over his splinted leg.

"How are you?" she asked, though it was just a formality. Ben didn't insult her rhetorical question with a straight answer.

"I can't stand on it, but I can make it to Luke's Xwing," he said, and Rey's face snapped up, her eyes startled wide at his words.

"How did-"

"You spoke to the New General," he continued. "I'm to be put on trial." Rey paused for a beat as they stared at one another, and then she nodded once. "And if that is to happen, I will be sentenced to death for my crimes."

"For the crimes of Kylo Ren," Rey corrected, standing, and reaching to take his arm around her shoulders, helping him to stand. With a wince, he managed to get to his feet. "And I'm not letting you die for what Kylo Ren did."

"There have been guards outside the medical tent since I was brought in," he said, his voiced labored with pain as they slowly limped from the tent. He glanced around, no guards in sight. "Did you kill them?" Rey rolled her eyes at this, but didn't answer. "Ah, you let them know they had 'orders to assemble the guards on the other side of Base,' then?" She still didn't answer him, but he knew he was more on the nose with this one. He hadn't seen Rey employ Jedi mind tricks before, but for some strange reason, it made him happy to know she was able to when needed.

She retrieved her satchel and staff as they made their way through the quiet base. Curiously, as they limped along, they passed by several campfires lit with rebels gathered around them, and yet no one seemed to realize the two Jedi were there. They weren't being especially sneaky or quiet, and Ben had to wonder if Rey was using the force to somehow cloak them or otherwise obfuscate their presence. Either way, they made easy work of transversing the base, and despite Rey struggling to help Ben climb into the aging spacecraft, they made it to the Xwing uneventfully.

"Where will we go?" Ben asked, as they laid low in the cockpit, waiting for the perfect time to take off, knowing their departure would wake half the base.

"...Away from here," was all Rey would say.

Poe was woken shortly after with the news that Luke's Xwing had just departed from the atmosphere, and that the medical bay that housed the prisoner was now conspicuously empty.


End file.
